With the rapid development of China’s economy and the rapid growth of the population, the demand for traffic is gradually changing from slow to fast, and the traffic congestion, air pollution, climate change and public health problems are becoming increasingly prominent. As residents’ willingness for low-carbon travel plays a crucial role in alleviating the problems caused by traffic, many studies pay attention to this aspect, but young people are still an obviously neglected group in the study of willingness for low-carbon travel. The novelty of this study lies in the extension of environmental concern and perceived moral obligation to the theory of planned behavior to explore the factors influencing young people’s low-carbon travel behavioral intention. The structural equation modeling is validated with a sample of 235 young respondents. The results show that attitude, perceived behavior control, environmental concern and perceived moral obligation have a significant positive correlation with young people’s low-carbon travel behavioral intention, while subjective norm has not. By revealing young people’s intention of low-carbon travel, this study could help to enhance the understanding of young people’s low-carbon travel choices, and could provide guidance for how to guide young people to choose low-carbon travel in the future.

The Shanghai government has outlined plans for the new vehicles used for the public transportation, rental, sanitation, postal, and intra-city freight to be completely powered by electricity by 2020. This paper analyzed the characteristics of vehicle emissions in Shanghai in the past five years. The potential reduction in road traffic related emissions due to the promotion and application of electric vehicle in Shanghai was evaluated. The potential reduction was quantified by vehicular emissions. The vehicular emissions inventories are calculated by the COPERT IV model under the different scenarios, of which the results indicate that promoting electric vehicles is the efficient measure to control all road traffic related emissions and improve urban air quality. The results also provided basis and support for making policies to promote and manage electric vehicles.

In the effort to urgently develop new and improved methodologies to compute and assess CO₂ emissions from transportation, results have been less than ideal; this article provides a review of the methodologies currently available. When it comes to the discharge of harmful gases into the air, transportation is the biggest offender. Methods are still being developed to calculate and analyze the transportation sector’s carbon footprint, despite the fact that the need to limit the emission of gases that contribute to global warming has now become urgent. Previous studies have calculated the carbon footprint of transportation; however, there are some discrepancies in the terminology and methodologies utilized. The commonalities between CO₂ emission measurement techniques and assessment techniques are the primary subject of this review. This study helps to increase public awareness of environmental concerns and promotes the use of reliable methodologies for calculating transportation-related CO₂ emissions. It is hoped that choosing the optimal available method will contribute to a decrease in CO₂ emissions from transportation.